Did they actually listen to the Miiverse pleas or
was EB always gonna come out?

I'd love to think NOA actually listened to their fans and were able to make some kind of difference, but personally, I think it was a business decision and nothing more. I doubt all the complaints and whining on Miiverse had any say in the matter. How about you?

It came out on the Japanese VC last month so chances are it was already planned anyway.

That doesn't matter. A lot of games get released in japan and not over here. Don't underestimate the power of demand. If there was no demand they wouldn't bother.---PSN: Mokmuud live gamertag: Fumokmuud NNID: Mokmuud

Here's the thing. Earthbound was never going to be part of the 30 cent promotion in NA. The bit of extra time spent on the game to then give it away so cheaply is crazy. It's not as insane as Fire Emblem for it to be released as it already existed in English. But it still required that Nintendo look at it more. We can't really know if the Miiverse postings had any effect or not, simply because it was akin to dealing with Wave Racers' ads or Mike Tyson in Punch Out!(even if they latter had been fixed by NES era release in the first place).

Nintendo themselves make it look like Miiverse had some effect. However until we get something like Earthbound NES or one of the Fire Emblems on VS fully translated there's no proof that it really does anything. I'm saying the effect of this was the easiest to pull off, so we can not have proof either way.

Never had the chance to play Earthbound, myself. First time I've heard of Ness was through Super Smash Bros on N64 (and it doesn't give TOO much detail, either). I've seen gameplay, and it's such a quirky game with the battles and finding health items in trashcans XD and you gain funds from calling dad after fighting a bunch of monsters (what, is Monster Hunting an occupation now? XD). Such weirdness must be witnessed! And now, lots of people will get to experience the incomprehensible enjoyment either for the very first time or again lol(Now, I'm sure many will be wanting an official localized release of Mother 3...one can hope >w> Oh, those Magypsies O.O)---Failure to complete a challenge sets up for the next attempt.Never taking that attempt is the REAL failure.